Issues when using Photo Mechanic when I don't have reliable internet access

[jwarren]

I've used PM since it was first introduced and usually love it. I often travel internationally, and work in locations without reliable internet access. In the past 6 months, PM has become almost unusable in those situations, running incredibly slowly, then freezing, requiring "force quit" to turn off. Turning off wifi access, doesn't solve the issue. I've resorted to using Bridge, which I am not fond of.

As soon as I am back in my home office, on a good network, PM hums along nicely again.

This issue has our Mac support tech (former Apple support staff) completely stumped.

I'm on the latest version of PM, on a MacBook Pro M1, also on latest software updates. I re-imaged my hard drive and reinstalled PM in the latest version, but am still having issues in stations where I don't have internet access.

Is there some setting I need to change in PM settings? Anyone facing this issue?  Appreciate any suggestions.

[Kirk Baker]

I've used PM since it was first introduced and usually love it. I often travel internationally, and work in locations without reliable internet access. In the past 6 months, PM has become almost unusable in those situations, running incredibly slowly, then freezing, requiring "force quit" to turn off. Turning off wifi access, doesn't solve the issue. I've resorted to using Bridge, which I am not fond of.

As soon as I am back in my home office, on a good network, PM hums along nicely again.

This issue has our Mac support tech (former Apple support staff) completely stumped.

I'm on the latest version of PM, on a MacBook Pro M1, also on latest software updates. I re-imaged my hard drive and reinstalled PM in the latest version, but am still having issues in stations where I don't have internet access.

Is there some setting I need to change in PM settings? Anyone facing this issue?  Appreciate any suggestions.

Which version and build are you using?  None of the versions of Photo Mechanic currently supported (Photo Mechanic 6 or Photo Mechanic 2025) require a constant internet connection to function properly.  Photo Mechanic 6, once activated only contacts services over the internet when you have set it to check for updates, use Reverse Geocoding, or when you use one of the Upload Templates.  Photo Mechanic 2025 contacts a server on startup to check for license compliance, but otherwise operates the same as Photo Mechanic 6.

Is it possible that one of your drives is a remote (cloud or otherwise server-based) drive and performs poorly when your internet connection is bad?

-Kirk